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Athabasca
Athabasca (Iota Hydri IV) is the fourth planet within the Iota Hydri system. Settled by humanity in 2404, it is the first of three colonies in the system and the largest of its terrestrial worlds. Armitage is categorized as an Outer Colony, though it rests along the abstract boundary with the Inner Colonies, and is under the administrative control of the Unified Earth Government. Beginning as an agriculture world, Athabasca eventually metamorphosed into a fortress colony with numerous military installations and a considerable garrison, a change made due to the threat of colonial war in the late 25th and early 26th centuries. During the Human-Covenant War, the planet was a component of the Cole Line and experienced major battles on two separate occasions: once in 2545, and again in 2552. History Discovery and colonization The existence of planets in the Iota Hydri system had been known since as early as 2010, back when the star was referred to only as HD 10180, but estimations on the exact characteristics of those planets proved to far off and later detection methods allotted more accurate data. A relatively small planet was officially discovered by researchers at the University of Cambridge in 2067; this discovery occurred around the time of the system's official renaming to Iota Hydri. The planet, then designated Iota Hydri IV, was detected in orbit between Iota Hydri III and Iota Hydri V, originally named HD 10180 and HD 10180 e, respectively. Centuries later in 2292, the UNSC Engineering Corps' Interstellar Exploration and Colonization Initiative (IECI) pegged the planet as a candidate for potential human settlement in the future. Technical limitations of the time meant Iota Hydri IV would be overlooked during the first-wave of extrasolar colonization as an impractical prospect, but later advances established it as attractive real estate. By December of 2404, weeks after ENGCORP completed its preliminary terraforming operations, the North America-based contractor Orbitalia had already chartered seventy-seven pioneer vessels for ferrying over 150,000 colonists to the planet. The first colonists eventually set foot on the planet in the Spring of 2405, planting their flag on the eastern shore of Cascadia Major—the world's largest continent—and officially establishing Iota Hydri IV as a colony. Early history The first settlement of Iota Hydri IV, Athabasca, completed its initial phases of development in early-2407, after which the entire world was given the same proper name. Soon afterward, new settlements began cropping up along the eastern coast of Cascadia Major, as well as farther inland in the Asphodel hinterland and along the nearby Reynes peninsula; these would all be the backbone of the colony's future prosperity. For the next several generations, Athabasca would build itself up through intensive agriculture. Having taken unexpectedly well to early terraforming efforts, the vast fields and temperate seasons gave way to extremely bountiful yields of crops and healthy livestock. A burgeoning rich ore mining industry later became a valuable component to this fledgling economy, but it's primary role as a "breadbasket" is what allowed it support the development of other colonies in the system and simultaneously feed worlds across human-occupied space. And yet, despite its significant productivity and economic success, a growing number of Athabascans each year struggled financially due to a steadily rising cost of living and taxes, but stagnant wages—to many working-class citizens, the Earth federal government was to blame. In the fallout of the Callisto Incident of 2494, the relationship between Earth and the Outer Colonies became increasingly strained. Like on many other colonies, Athabasca saw hundreds of organized protests that year and the following, with the most significant being the Athabasca City Protest of 2495, as it was the violence that erupted during that event which led to the rise of the Athabasca Revolutionary Movement and sparked armed rebellion on the planet, largely fought in Asphodel. Eventually, the UEG mobilized a UNSC intervention force to support the local colonial government's fight against ARM, a campaign that lasted well into the late-2510s; In that time, the UNSC would establish numerous military facilities to support counterinsurgency efforts. Human-Covenant War Topography Society Administration Law and defense Notable residents Category:Planets Category:UEG Colonies